Yoga Teacher Insurance: UK Comparison (2020)

Whether you’re newly qualified or thinking about becoming a certified yoga teacher, you’ll need to get the right yoga teacher insurance.

You’ll need to consider how factors such as your qualifications, where you work, and whether you run your own business, can change what insurance you need to have.

Fortunately for you, we’ve done the research for you and explained all of the different kinds of insurance and provided some useful tips for when it comes to coding your very own yoga teacher insurance comparison.

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Yoga Teacher Insurance Requirements: Why Your Qualifications Matter

Before you can get yoga teacher insurance in the UK, you’ll need to make sure that you’re qualified.

More specifically, it ‘s really important that you ensure that you have the correct qualifications.

What do we mean by this? We’re talking about course accreditation and regulation.

When you research yoga qualifications you need to look for a course that is endorsed or accredited by an institution such as REPS (Register of Exercise Professionals) or CIMSPA (Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity).

In some cases, you can even find course providers such as ourselves who offer qualifications that are endorsed by both REPs and CIMSPA.

REPs or CIMSPA accreditation shows that you hold a qualification that meets nationally agreed standards, and it ensures that your qualification will be recognised by the insurance company.

You will also need to make sure that any course that you sign up for is regulated by an awarding body. For example, here at OriGym all of our yoga courses are regulated by Ofqual.

Ofqual is a governing body that sets the levels of vocational courses in the UK. These levels are used to indicate the specific job title that the course qualifies you for.

The same goes for Yoga, if you want to work as a Yoga teacher, you should have a Level 3 qualification in Yoga Instructing.

Ofqual regulation ensures that somebody who gets a Level 3 Yoga certification at OriGym has the same level of knowledge as somebody who completed their Level 3 qualification elsewhere.

This makes it easy for insurance providers to understand what you are qualified to do and it provides them with the confidence that you have the appropriate level of knowledge to teach students safely.

It also means that insurance providers (plus employers and clients) can clearly distinguish between standard yoga teachers and advanced professionals who hold a Level 4 Yoga certification.

This is where accredited and regulated courses differ from the cheap or even free fitness courses that you can find online.

As a general rule of thumb, if a course costs less than £20 or it can be completed in a matter of hours, it’s probably not going to give you the right level of knowledge to practice as a yoga teacher.

Insurance providers recognise that these courses aren’t sufficient to qualify you and they will reject your application if you can’t provide evidence that you have an accredited and regulated qualification that meets their yoga teacher insurance requirements.

Why Do You Need Insurance To Teach Yoga?

Above we really emphasised how important it is to ask your course provider about qualification accreditation and regulation.

But why is this so important? Why do you even need Yoga teacher insurance in the first place?

Before we explain exactly what insurance you need, here are the answers to the questions we know you’re asking!

#1 Why do I need Insurance?

You’re probably thinking that the chances of you needing to use your yoga teacher insurance will be pretty slim, but in the unfortunate event that a claim is made against you, not having insurance can be a serious issue.

There is simply no way of avoiding accidents or injuries, no matter how many qualifications you have or how long you’ve practiced as a yoga teacher, sometimes these things just happen.

There’s always a slight chance that a client could injure themselves during your class, whether that’s a yoga-related injury or something like slipping on a wet floor.

If they choose to make a claim, you’re going to need the right insurance to protect yourself financially.

You could even get injured yourself, leaving you unable to teach. Without an insurance policy that covers income protection, this could leave you in a really difficult financial situation.

When you really think about it, there are tons of situations where a claim can be made against you.

You could be unfortunate enough to have a student accuse you of misconduct, claiming that you touched them inappropriately or unnecessarily during a class.

These kinds of claims are uncommon but by no means are they unheard of. Even if you are not found to be in the wrong, you could be left with a big legal bill at the end of the ordeal.

The right insurance will also cover the costs if any of your equipment is damaged or stolen, which leads us to our next FAQ.

#2 I don’t have expensive equipment, do I need insurance?

Ok, some of the best yoga mats are pretty reasonably priced, so you might think that you’d be better off replacing a mat yourself rather than paying out for insurance on the off chance that it might go missing.

But, the right yoga teacher insurance will cover more than your yoga mat.

That includes the expensive equipment you probably didn’t consider originally, like the sound system or laptop that you use during your classes

You actually use a lot more equipment than you think. Whether that’s your own or equipment that is owned by the studio, if you damage it, you’ll have to pay for it to be replaced. An unnecessary expense that is completely avoidable by having insurance.

#3 Won’t I come under the studio’s policy?

In most cases, yoga teachers are employed on a freelance basis, so although you technically work at a studio or centre, you are effectively self-employed and entirely responsible for getting your own insurance.

You should never assume that you’re covered by a studios policy. Even if your studio says that you are insured with them, you should still investigate what you are actually covered for and get additional cover, such as professional indemnity insurance, if necessary.

It’s also important to be aware that this policy will only cover you in that studio, so if you teach somebody outside of that studio and something goes wrong, your insurance will be invalid.

Insurance for Yoga Teachers: UK Guide

Now that you understand how important it is to get insured, the next step is figuring out what insurance you need.

There are a couple of different kinds of yoga teacher insurance policies so it can be a little confusing to decide which policies you do and don’t need.

Sometimes insurance providers will exaggerate the types of insurance you need in order to get you to buy more of their products. Fortunately for you, we’re here to offer you a completely unbiased guide.

Below we’ve explained the various kinds of insurance for yoga teachers (UK), what they cover, and what you need based on the size and set up of your business.

Public Liability Insurance For Yoga Teachers

Having a public liability insurance policy is highly recommended to anybody and everybody who wants to work as a yoga teacher.

Public liability insurance covers you for all claims from third parties, whether that’s somebody who gets injured during one of your classes or a third party who claims that you’ve damaged their equipment.

Whilst it’s not a legal requirement that you have public liability insurance to teach yoga in the UK, you would be taking a huge risk by not having it.

Plus, pretty much all studios or health centres will ask for proof that you have public liability insurance before you can hold a class at their venue.

Even though Yoga is a fairly low impact form of exercise, accidents, and injuries can still absolutely happen.

Students of all ages and abilities will come to your classes. Say a new student doesn’t understand your instruction and performs a movement incorrectly, or they have an injury they aren’t aware of, they could very easily become hurt during your class.

This is especially a problem for online yoga teachers which is why not all public liability insurance for yoga teachers covers online classes.

Employer Liability Yoga Teacher Insurance (UK)

Despite some confusing information around the topic (mainly the result of insurance companies pushing people to get more policies than they really need), not all yoga teachers who own their own business will need this.

Employer liability insurance covers the cost of compensation for any claims from your employees. It mainly covers you in the event that they claim that they became injured or ill at or as a result of work.

This only applies to yoga teachers and businesses that employ their own staff.

The confusion comes when yoga teachers are self-employed. The truth is that if you’re registered as a sole trader, then you don’t need to have employer liability insurance.

However, if you do hire an employee, then you are legally required to have employer liability insurance in the UK.

Whether that is one staff member or 100 staff members is irrelevant, it’s a legal requirement that you have this insurance, even if your staff are working on a voluntary basis.

Yoga Teacher Professional Liability Insurance

Regardless of whether you run a successful yoga studio or you’re just starting out as a sole trader, another policy that you’ll need is professional liability insurance (also known as professional indemnity insurance).

The kind of insurance covers claims of professional mistakes or professional negligence.

For example, in the event that one of your students makes a claim that they have received poor or incorrect advice from you, you could use yoga teacher professional liability insurance to cover the costs of defending yourself in court.

Whether those claims are true or not, going to court comes at a cost. Even if nothing comes of the claims, you could still be left to pay the legal fees if you don’t have professional indemnity cover.

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Other Types of Insurance to Consider

Shortly we’ll share our advice on how to find the best yoga teacher insurance that works for you. But first, there are a couple of other types of insurance that yoga teachers should think about getting.

Those are:

Income Protection

Property Insurance

Business Equipment Insurance

Not sure if you need these policies? Below is a quick breakdown of what they cover and why you should consider these additional insurance policies.

Property Insurance for Yoga Teachers

This one only applies to those who own their own yoga studio. If you’re a freelancer or you rent a place to hold your classes then you skip straight to the next section.

If you do own your own studio, then you should really consider insuring the property as well as its contents.

Property insurance will pay if your property is damaged as a result of a natural disaster, like a flood, fire, or theft. Some policies will also cover damages caused by a burglary or even vandalism.

You might think that the chances of your property getting flooded are going on fire are fairly slim, but nobody ever expects that one of these things will happen to them.

Whilst you should have Yoga teacher insurance for any expensive equipment, you’ll still need property insurance to cover any damages to windows or locks that happen as a result of the theft.

Not only can repairing your premises be expensive if you have to pay out of your own pocket, but serious damage could also put you out of business whilst the repairs are taking place. Costing you even more money by temporarily putting you out of a job.

How To Choose A Yoga Teacher Insurance Provider

By now you should have a good idea of what insurance you need to teach yoga. We’ve made our recommendations on what kind of cover you need depending on whether you’re freelance or the owner of your own studio.

But how do you go about choosing the right provider?

There are hundreds of insurance companies out there so choosing the right one can be pretty overwhelming, but don’t sweat it!

Here’s our advice on how to get the best yoga teacher insurance in the UK.

How Much Is Yoga Teacher Insurance?

As with most things in life, your choice of insurance provider will probably be influenced by price.

The more expensive option isn’t necessarily the best insurance for yoga teachers in the UK, there are plenty of affordable options out there that can offer just as much cover for a fraction of the price.

And let’s be honest, nobody wants to pay more than they really need to, so we don’t blame you for wanting to find yoga teacher insurance that is cheap.

One positive thing to know is that unlike the likes of car insurance, yoga teacher insurance won’t cost you more just because you’re newly qualified.

But if price isn’t a good indication of quality, how can you choose between the many providers? Here’s a couple of things to look out for:

#1 What is covered?

The best yoga teacher insurance for you isn’t necessarily the best yoga teacher for the rest of the UK, so you need to have a read through the policy and see if it covers everything that you’re looking for.

If you don’t have any employees and you aren’t responsible for insuring any premises, paying for an insurance package that includes employer liability or property insurance is a complete waste of money.

If the policy seems pretty cheap, double-check that it covers you properly.

Depending on your individual business, do your research to see if it will pay out if something goes wrong during an online class, or if it will be valid for any specific classes you teach, like yoga for children or pregnant women.

#2 How much is the excess fee?

If your yoga teacher insurance cost seems too good to be true, it just might be. Once you’ve established that it's the right kind of cover for you, compare the excess fees for different providers.

An excess fee is the amount of money that you agree to pay towards a claim before. Once you have paid the excess fee, your yoga teacher insurance provider will pay the remaining expenses.

Say your sound system is stolen and it was worth £300, if your excess was £100, then you would need to pay £100 towards the replacement, and the provider would pay the remaining £200.

What seems like a really cheap policy on the surface could actually have a high excess fee that you couldn’t necessarily afford.

It’s worth considering paying a little more for your insurance to be confident that if you were to claim, you wouldn’t have to use hundreds of pounds out of your own pocket before the insurance company would pay out.

#3 How long is the contract?

Another factor that can influence the answer to ‘how much does yoga teacher insurance cost?’ is the length of your policy and how you pay for it.

There are a lot of flexible insurance contracts out there, from monthly contracts to those that last up to 24 months.

Typically, the longer you commit to the contract, the lower the cost will be.

If you’re confident that your current job role isn’t going to change much over the next 2 years, then you can save yourself some cash by going for a longer contract.

#4 Do you want to pay annually or monthly?

As with almost all payment plans, opting to pay the full cost upfront is usually cheaper than paying in monthly installments.

More often than not insurance providers will add interest to your monthly payments, so you should always read the small print to find out exactly how much this interest is.

Not everyone can afford to make one annual payment and that’s absolutely fine! You just need to take interest rates into consideration when you’re comparing both policies and prices.

#5 Yoga Teacher Insurance Reviews

Once you’ve found a policy with all of the right cover and a reasonable excess fee, it can be a real relief!

But don’t jump the gun just yet, before you agree to anything, no yoga teacher insurance comparison is complete without reading the company reviews first.

If yoga teacher insurance is cheap compared to the rest, there might be a reason,

The best thing to do is a little research into the company to see what their customers have to say about things like the level of customer service and whether they were hit with any hidden charges.

Trustpilot is probably the best review site out there as it’s a completely unbiased platform and reviews are only published if a person has had a genuine experience with the company.

There are plenty of other good review sites out there, you just need to make sure that you check out the yoga teacher insurance reviews on an independent site rather than trusting the potentially fake reviews on the companies own website.

Yoga Teacher Insurance Comparison (UK)

Speaking of reviews, we’re going to end our article by sharing a quick comparison of the most common insurance providers that came up in the search results for phrases such as ‘yoga teacher insurance UK’.

Even though the likes of Trustpilot are very reliable, a high score doesn’t mean that much if it is only based on a small handful of reviews.

So, here are the top search results and how they rank for 2 key factors: review score and number of reviews.

Before You Go!

Hopefully we’ve helped you to understand insurance you need to teach yoga as well as how to find a good insurance provider.

Written by Abbie Watkins

Holding an MA Marketing Communications and Branding as well as a BSc Psychology from the University of Liverpool, Abbie’s experience encompasses the retail, hospitality and fitness industries. Since joining OriGym, she has become a qualified Personal Trainer and gone on to complete a specialist qualification in advanced Sports Nutrition. Abbie’s main focuses cover staying up to speed with YouTube fitness influencers, identifying successful and innovative content formats. She has contributed to various publications, including the Daily Express. Beyond OriGym, she describes herself as a ‘work-hard, play-hard’ type going on scenic runs and upbeat exercise classes, and often found on the front row of a Saturday morning spin class.